Painful Secrets
by BenXGwen Lightning Warrior
Summary: How was June freed from her cocoon in “Crisscross”? A simple question but it leads to some interesting places. Follow Jack as he reveals to Arcee the truth of this secret and finds himself a kindred Spark in her. (I own NOTHING.)


Painful Secrets

Jack looked around and followed Airachnid's retreat with a deadly glare on his face. "Thanks for the help, Agent Fowler." Fowler stared at the retreating 'con in anger. "If I would have known 'cons were involved, I would have called in Prime." Jack looked down and gestured to his Mom. "That might have been too much for Mom to handle in one night." Jack stated as Fowler gave a slight nod of understanding from his chopper. "Do you need help getting her down, son?" Fowler asked. Jack felt buried anger rise within him. "I don't WANT your help, Leo!" Jack roared at the agent as June shivered, _Of all the times for Jack to remember HIM…_ June thought as her eyes widened at the mention of the man who nearly broke her family beyond repair.

Arcee heard a familiar tone in jack's voice as he spoke: one of absolutely pure anger. _Why would this man cause Jack to be so angry?_ The femme wondered as she watched and waited to catch June should she fall. From her vantage point on the ground, Arcee saw Jack wince and produce a large three-foot long blade from his right hand before he cut June loose, cocoon and all. Then, faster than should have been humanly possible, Jack was under June and caught her as Arcee watched the impact and G-forces of the fall taken harmless by Jack's legs. _What the pit?!_ Her processor reeled as her rational mind told her that Jack should have crumbled in a heap with gravel for legs from the impact. In spite of this seeming breach to the laws of physics, Jack gently put down his mother and winced again before Arcee gasped as she saw the blade from earlier jump out of Jack's wrist before he cut through the webbing as if it was butter.

Jack looked up once he was sure June was ok and met the angry look in Arcee's optics. "What happened to you, Jack?" Arcee asked. Jack bit back by answering line from Arcee right after she lost Cliffjumper. "I know about loss, more than you could ever realize." Arcee and June both looked at Jack. Arcee had regret in her optics while June had sadness in her eyes. "Jack, I…" Arcee began as she tried feebly to apologize to her human charge. When Jack didn't respond, Arcee felt a faint smile on her faceplate. _He's just like me. When he's wounded, he draws away and focuses on other things._ "Come on, Mom." Jack said as he braved a smile and ignored Arcee's attempt at an apology for the time being. "I think it's time we had that ride you once made me promise."

Once at the base, June was stunned silent as her eyes looked around at the giant robots around her. Strangely, as June's eyes met the optics of a tall red and blue mech, June's mind reverted to that of a shy schoolgirl, and she could only manage a slight wave at the mech. After a few moments, June was still seated on Arcee. Jack looked back at his Mom and took her hand. "Come on, Mom." He said gently as Arcee took her biped form and looked at Jack expectancy. June finally seemed to come back to herself and looked around the room. Before she could explore the base at her leisure, June was taken captive by Miko. "You two go on ahead," Miko said as she felt the tension radiating off of Arcee and Jack. "I'll keep Mrs. D busy." Jack only nodded. He didn't know whether to be worried or pleased that Miko would keep his mom occupied.

Once Jack and Arcee made it to the femme's quarters, Arcee shut the door behind them and glared at Jack. "What the frag was that back there at the cement plant?!" Jack sighed and looked at Arcee. "I didn't want you to freak and order Ratchet to look me over." Jack shuddered violently when he mentioned the Autobot CMO. "I wouldn't- That wouldn't end well." Jack said as his voice became low. "Jack, what happened?" Jack shivered and reached toward his eyes. Arcee's servo shot out to stop Jack from plucking out his eyes. That never happened anyway because Jack only slid some discs out of his eyes with nimble fingers. Arcee remembered they were called "contacts" and were used to correct human visual processing errors.

When the contacts were brought away from Jack's eyes, Arcee shivered as intense blue OPTICS stared back at her. "I was born with a degenerative nervous system disorder. Doctors said I wouldn't make it past the age of three, but I hung on for six years. My father, Leo Darby, when he saw how distraught Mom was, made me the test subject for some cutting edge nanotechnology that was supposed to repair my body." Jack jumped effortlessly into Arcee's servo twenty feet above the floor. "The 'nanotechnology' turned out to be microscopic repair bots from a captured and dissected Cybertonian." Arcee shivered with rage at the thought. "For days, my body fought the foreign aggressors, probably the most pain I will ever feel." Jack said with another shiver.

"After my body accepted the machines they partially rebuilt my body into a Cybertronian amalgam. They strengthened my bones and muscles beyond any human limits and changed my eyes to optics." Arcee stared at Jack in stunned silence as her Spark began to ache for all the pain Jack went through because of his father. Arcee watched in a micro cycle of confusion as Jack flinched and put a hand on his chest for a moment. "To ensure the nanobots repaired my body, the organization took a sliver of the captured Cybertronian's Spark and placed it in my human heart." Arcee's eyes blazed. "Those butchers…they sound like MECH…" Jack nodded solemnly. "Then, that means…" Jack's optics burned with fury and finished Arcee's shocking thought. "…my father is Lenard Bishop AKA Silas."

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